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The 44-year-old bilingual son of former governor-general Roméo LeBlanc is a childhood friend of the Trudeau family. This summer LeBlanc and Trudeau vacationed together in New Brunswick with their families.

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It was always assumed that Trudeau and LeBlanc would not run against each other.

Now that Trudeau has officially announced his candidacy for the party leadership it seems likely that LeBlanc will be the one to sit out this race. Neither LeBlanc nor Trudeau’s spokespersons are commenting on the expected endorsement.

In the meantime, one of the lesser-known prospective candidates, Shane Geschiere, a Manitoba paramedic, has also told the Winnipeg Free Press that he is bowing out to support Trudeau.

“With the news of Justin Trudeau becoming a candidate, I will choose to support him, as he demonstrates the youthfulness and a possible game-changer, which (is) I what I wanted to be,” Geschiere told the Free Press.

On Wednesday, Trudeau’s campaign took him to Richmond, B.C., and Calgary, where he tried to revive the rusty relationship between the Liberal party and voters in the heart of Conservative territory.

Without mentioning his father’s name, Trudeau distanced himself from the Liberals’ much-hated national energy program of the early 1980s — which still riles Albertans.

“It is wrong to use our natural wealth to divide Canadians against one another,” the Quebec MP told more than 200 people crammed into the basement of the Dashmesh Culture Senior Citizen Society.

“It was the wrong way to govern Canada in the past, it is wrong today and it will be wrong in the future.”

Rather than ignore the Liberals’ long struggle in Alberta, where the party didn’t win a single seat in the 2011 federal election, Trudeau said he understood Westerners’ frustrations with Ottawa and praised Albertans for their hard work.

“I promise you I will never use the wealth of the west as a wedge to gain votes in the east,” he said.

Trudeau indicated he is open to developing the oilsands — while focusing on the long term, improving the science and keeping the environment in mind, of course.

But he has “concerns” about the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, which would ship bitumen from Alberta to British Columbia, particularly the “extraordinarily vulnerable” forests it would pass through and potential tanker congestion near Kitimat, B.C.

“For me, there are huge barriers before (Enbridge) can convincingly convince people that the science is sound around the project as it stands,” Trudeau said. “Hopefully, the science is going to be clear about it one way or another.”

In the coming days, the breadth of Trudeau’s support will become clearer. Only one current MP, Massimo Pacetti (Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel) was at the Trudeau launch on Tuesday night, but more MPs are said to be waiting in the wings to announce their endorsement, too.

Trudeau, 40, has said he hopes for a lively leadership race, with plenty of contenders.

Several current and former MPs are still weighing whether they should run against him, notably fellow Montrealers Marc Garneau (Westmount—Ville-Marie) and Denis Coderre (Bourassa.) British Columbia MP Joyce Murray (Quadra) is also laying the groundwork for entry into the contest.

Former Liberal leadership contender Martha-Hall Findlay, who used to represent the Toronto riding of Willowdale in the Commons before the 2011 election defeat, has also said she is trying to pull together a campaign.

The leadership race ends April 14, when the winner is announced in Ottawa.

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